The Dying Fall
by Bloody Lily
Summary: Harry is wasting away his summer at the Dursley's. Ron is supposed to come pick him up in a week, his one glimmer of hope. But before Ron can come, Harry finds another source of hope in a new neighbor. Please R&R Chapter Two is now up!
1. A Misunderstood Child

A dark corridor loomed ahead. Off to the left and the right were doors, identical to each other. The creak of the floor boards only added to the dreary atmosphere of the dilapidated building.  
  
Enter the left door, and one may find a dusty scene. A worn, formerly crimson, couch sat in the corner, the stuffing long flattened from decades of use. A now unrecognizable painting adorned the wall while a book shelf across the room held what looked more like ancient relics than books. Only one window allowed the moonlight to peak through, and a miniscule amount at that.  
  
The room to the right was a bit more hospitable and actually had the appearance of someone's presence in the past few months. A shabby, but comfortable arm chair was placed in front of a fireplace and a stunning, albeit long out of tune, piano was set in the corner. Peeled wallpaper gave the impression of past grandeur. This building must have been an elegant house in a former life.  
  
Back through the hallway, down the staircase, out the door, and several miles away, our hero was lying on his bed, dressed in an old gray sweatshirt with an ever increasing whole on the bottom of the left sleeve. His jet black hair was ruffled as always, and his glasses had a fresh piece of duct tape binding them together. His name was Harry Potter. Harry was one of the most well known figures in his own world, the world of wizards, making the fact that the only people who really knew him were either dead, or one of two insignificant soon-to-be 6th years at the Hogwarts school of Wizarding and witchcraft, quite ironic.  
  
Harry was occupying himself by glaring up at his white ceiling, a common summer occurrence for him. His world had been progressively crashing around him since the ages ago when he first came to know the reason for all the oddities in his life, televisions breaking without cause or reason, and other seeming impossibilities. This moment of epiphany was when Hagrid, the intimidating but gentle grounds keeper at Hogwarts, tore down the door to a little shack that Harry's Uncle Vernon had cooped Harry, himself, Harry's Aunt Petunia, and Harry's cousin Dudley in and told Harry of the truth. Since then, Harry had had multiple attempts on his life, participated in a dangerous wizarding competition he hadn't even entered, and shouldn't have been allowed to be in, witnessed the death of a fellow student by the unforgivable curse, Avada Kedavra, had lost his fugitive godfather whom was the only true father figure in his life to servants of the very man who was trying to kill Harry himself, and had discovered a shocking prophecy on his own destiny. It was quite a bit for a boy the age of sixteen to handle.  
  
After a few minutes of glaring, Harry was interrupted by a tapping noise on his window. He prodded his thick glasses back in front of his shockingly green eyes, and went over to investigate.  
  
"Hedwig, there you are! Where've you been? I must have sent you out five hours ago," he spoke to the owl in a curious way, as people only speak to their animals when they are sure no one else is listening. With a sharp yank, he pulled open the window and let Hedwig in. "You know it only takes about an hour to fly to Hermione's house. Oh well, atleast you're here." He gently tugged off a scroll of parchment, presumably containing a note from Hermione.  
  
Harry's eyes flew rapidly over the paper when it was unrolled, as he mumbled the contents of it. "Everything's well.Mom and Dad.Ron's devising some scheme or another.chicken for dinner.See you soon," It popped into Harry's mind as he was reading, he would be seeing her soon, and Ron too. With a glance at his calendar, his eyes lit up to see that in just a week, Ron would come pick him up for a trip to Diagon Alley and then to the Burrow where Hermione and him would be staying till they took their trip back to Hogwarts.  
  
"BOY, GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!" Uncle Vernon's voice came rapidly to Harry's ears from the bottom of the stairs. He slammed shut his window, tossed down Hermione's note and sprinted from his room. Harry almost toppled directly on top of his uncle's rather large mass, but was able to narrowly avoid it by gripping the railing.  
  
"Yes, Uncle Vernon," he gulped. What would it be this time? Dudley failed a subject and it was Harry's fault for being too noisy for poor little Dudleykins to study. That was a possibility, but maybe Harry had forgotten to clean Dudley's room or put away one of his own extremely oversized hand-me-downs.  
  
Vernon's face was particularly red today, and several veins were bulging from his thick neck. Whatever Harry did, it must have been big. Perhaps for once Harry actually did something that was worthy of punishment.  
  
"I think I've had about as much as I can take of you, boy. Dudley just came home with a bruised rump 'cause of you! It was all you and th- tha-," Vernon stumbled over his own fear of the word, but was able to speak it when he lowered his voice into a whisper, "that magic stuff of yours. I oughta toss you out for this I tell you."  
  
Harry just stood there in a daze. "How could Uncle Vernon be such a twit?" he thought to himself. It was true that Harry had knocked Dudley down on his bottom rather hard, but it wasn't his fault. Dudley and his thug gang had cornered him and Harry's anger had just exploded into a burst of magic, knocking over Dudley and his whole crew. Of course Harry fled the scene as fast as he could, but it must have taken Dudley a bit longer, maybe he had a nicotine craving and decided to stop and have a smoke.  
  
"You've been ruining this house. Ever since you got that letter its been chaos around here. Well you're going to stop all this nonsense, whether you like it or not," and with that he tugged on Harry's overgrown sweatshirt and threw him down on the ground .  
  
"Argh!" Harry called as his bony body slammed the ground. He felt the need to yell more, but he couldn't bear to give his uncle the pleasure of his pain, so he kept it all inside.  
  
Vernon dropped his tremendous foot onto Harry's back, pinning Harry down to the floor. There'd be a large bruise on Harry's back in the morning. "Feel that boy? Every bad apple needs a beating, straightens them right out. Of course, you might need quite a few to fix you."  
  
This continued on for an hour or so. After it was all over Harry limped up to his messy little room upstairs and collapsed onto his bed, letting out one loud moan of pain as a spring from his ancient box spring mattress struck his back. "Just one more week," he told himself, "one more week and I can leave this God forsaken place until next year. Just one more." and with that, he drifted off to sleep, or possibly passed out from the pain, whichever it was, he awakened the next morning and the week continued on in the same fashion.  
  
Finally, it was the day Ron was to come for him. He hid his remaining cuts, scrapes and bruises with a long-sleeved shirt and packed up his belongs to ready himself for his release from the torture that was his home.  
  
A/N: Hi! Well this chapter was a bit shorter than I was planning it to be, but that's alright because I got everything done that I wanted to in it. I know that I've been neglecting my other stories, but I just haven't been in the mood to write recently until tonight (I did this all in one sitting, cause I was uber bored) For all of you Wilted Flower fans (Yes all two of you) I'm gonna update it soon.So anyways I hope you like this new fiction, I have only like one more event in the plot planned out so I'll have to get my creative juices flowing. Pleaseeeeeeee review 


	2. The Connection

Caution...Romance ahead, lol...Hope you like it!  
  
I hate this world sometimes. The people, the places, everything has that certain hypocritical air to it in theses dark times. I know this don't sound like how I'd ordinarily sound, but it's how I feel. I'm tired of being the optimist. I'm tired of being the smart girl in the corner. I'm tired of me. I'm tired of them. Hell, I'm tired of life. Is there really any hope for a world where one man can bring fear and shadow to the rest of the inhabitants by simply being alive?  
I know what's happening. I've been reading the paper. People don't trust each other anymore. They look twice at their neighbor. They see pain and darkness lurking past every corner. If everyone else has given up optimism, then why shouldn't I? The world is meeting it's end.  
  
Your deeply frustrated friend,  
Hermione Granger  
  
Hermione's next letter wasn't quite so uplifting. It arrived only a day after the previous one, making it all the more devastating to Harry that Hermione, his resourceful go-to friend, could fall so quickly. Harry was wandering outside down one of the roads attached to Pivet Drive, which one he did not know. That was the curious thing about his wandering, his feet just seemed to guide him.  
After going over the letter several times, he finally concluded that Hermione was, as usual, right and threw the paper down on the ground before slamming it with his foot. He gaped up at the starry sky as if to ask what it wanted from him. There didn't seem to be an obscenity in the world to cover his feelings. In the wizarding world, he was to fight the most dangerous man alive. In the world of his aunt and uncle, he was to constantly battle against his uncle, without the use of magic.  
Behind him, a street light flickered. There was not a bit of wind that night. The beauty of nature which was so irritatingly perfect, in contrast to man-kind's inability to keep a street light lit only served to make Harry more aggravated at his race.  
A shadow crept up beside Harry and a hand gingerly cradled his shoulder.  
"You alright?" called a soft voice from behind him, presumably belonging to the owner of the hand.  
Harry flinched, as anyone else would caught in his situation.  
"What are you doing out here so late at night anyways?" the voice called again as the owner swung around to Harry's front, revealing herself.  
  
She had long shiny brown hair that flowed down past her shoulders. Freckles were sprinkled across her nose and under her dark brown eyes. She looked like almost every other girl one might find in the suburbs of London, but had a playful innocence to her that drew Harry to her.  
"Er.Just being angry at the sky, I guess," he finally replied as his cheeks flushed in realization of how ridiculous he must sound.  
The girl just smiled at him for a moment. "Yeah, I think everyone has to let go and scream at the sky, occasionally," she said calmly. "Do you want to come over to my porch and talk about it? I know I don't know you, but I just have an obsession with trying to help people with their problems and I figure that you need some help.and now I'm rambling, aren't I?" she concluded with a chuckle at her own speech.  
What was Harry supposed to tell her? She was almost definitely a muggle and saying that there was an all powerful wizard trying to kill him just might freak her out. That was the last thing Harry wanted to do at this moment. This girl had an odd way of charming him.  
"Well, uh." he couldn't pass this up, "sure, I guess."  
He'd just have to keep all the little particulars to himself.  
She gestured to a house off to the right, presumably hers, with a lovely front porch reminiscent of the old Victorian homes in it's woodworking. The house, however, wasn't bigger than any other house on this street, or anywhere else in this particular suburb for that matter.  
Together they climbed several creaking steps and walked over to one of those fairytale swings that in the romantic tales of yesteryear millions of couples convened on and contemplated the mysteries of the universe. The girl sat down with her arms hugging one leg tightly to her chest and with the other leg sitting normally. Harry sat as he would usually and then turned his head to the girl with a small smile spread across his lips.  
"You know.you still haven't told me your name, and, come to think of it, I haven't told you mine either," Harry said, keeping that grin on his face for once in his life away from Hogwarts.  
"My name's Chelsea, but some call me Chels. Others call me insane, but that's a different story," she said jokingly as her lips grew into a smirk.  
"Ah, I'm Harry, Harry Potter," he replied, glad for once that he didn't have to worry about her shaking his hand like everyone else he had met since his first trip to Diagon Alley. "You know, it's a wonder that we've never met before."  
"Oh, not really, I just moved here a couple weeks ago. Actually, I moved all the way from across the Atlantic. You know that little country called the United States?"  
"I knew there was something different about you, the lack of that corny British accent. I've heard my uncle talk about that country quite often. A bunch of war-hungry, oil-obsessed dogs I hear."  
"No, for the most part, that statement only applies to the president. Personally, I find the accent charming, especially yours, tell me, are all the British accents as scrumptious as yours?"  
"Nope, sorry, just mine," Harry said with a bold grin. "Are all Americans as witty as you?"  
"Me? Witty? Well I suppose you do learn something new everyday."  
They both chuckled and smiled at each other for several moments.  
"So, now, getting down to business. What happened to make you so frustrated that you need to curse the sky?"  
"Oh, well, its just that.well you see.I have a friend, she's usually very optimistic, but she has pretty much given up hope on this world. You know how it is when you're close to someone. Their sadness has a way of bringing you down.  
Chelsea just nodded in reply. Harry's rare green hues were glancing around the porch, picking up every detail and delaying having to tell her too much. He caught sight of a black mail box engraved with the name O'Neil.  
"And.there is just so much going on in my life. So many things going wrong at once."  
"Hmm.I know what you mean. Remember, you're talking to a girl who just moved thousands of miles away from everything she has every known or loved. Not that I really had anything or anyone holding me back to the states in terms of love."  
Harry couldn't help but smile for a moment. "I know what it's like to lose. I'm an orphan. My parents died when I was very young."  
"I'm so sorry." she said as if every word had disappeared from her brain. Her eyes stared into his, looking genuinely apologetic.  
"It's alright.I just wish I was able to see them, know what they were like. I mean, where they strict parents? Would they have taken me to the park everyday to play or would they have made me stay home and work. Stupid stuff like that.I can't help but be curious."  
She nodded again. "So, who are you living with now then?"  
"My aunt and uncle.Vernon and Petunia.They aren't the most loving family ever, except to my cousin, Dudley, but orphans can't exactly be picky now can they?"  
"I think everyone has a right to a loving family, or at least someone who loves them as a son or daughter."  
"I did have someone like that..Sirius. He was my dad's best friend and my godfather."  
"Was? Oh, was."  
"Yeah," Harry said with a sigh, "it has been rough, I'll admit, but I have friends to support me in it, even if I do explode on them occasionally, saying they don't understand or some nonsense like that"  
"Its not nonsense. You're just frustrated and need emotional comfort. Everyone does sometimes."  
Harry glanced over at her with a sad smile growing on his face. "It's amazing.I've known you for less than an hour and you seem to understand better than anyone I've ever met."  
It was such a beautiful moment. Chelsea swore she could hear the Goo Goo Dolls playing "Iris" right in her ear. Harry was such fun, but he understood. He understood what it was like to be alone. Of course she hadn't told Harry her own lonely story, but that would come later.  
She began singing absentmindedly to herself, "And I'd give up forever to touch you, cause I know that you'd feel me somehow. You're the closest to heaven that I've ever been and I don't want to go home right now. And all I can taste is this moment. And all I can breath is your life. Cause sooner or later its over. I just don't want to miss you tonight."  
Harry recognized the song and looked over, into her dark brown eyes. He felt as if this was not their first meeting. He reached out a hand and lifted her chin so her eyes stared back into his and sang, "And I don't want the world to see me cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything is made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am. And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming or the moment of truth in your lie. When everything is made to be broken, yeah you'd bleed just to know you're alive."  
It was an hour after they had met, but to the two they had spent a lifetime in each other's eyes. That night emerald green hues swirled together with Chelsea's deep brown eyes and they'd never leave again.  
Out of the blue, a call came from inside the house, "Chelsea! Time to get to bed. We need to go back-to-school shopping tomorrow!"  
Chelsea broke their contact and her cheeks flushed red. "I better get going.Do you think you could meet me here tomorrow at the same time?"  
"Yeah of course.I'm just sad to see you go.I feel so connected for once."  
"We'll meet again soon."  
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Harry said with a goofy got-it- bad smile.  
Chelsea stood up and walked into her house, giving Harry one final wave as she disappeared inside.  
Harry stood up and walked down from the porch, delighting at the creak of the floor boards, the soft summer grass, the beautiful night sky, the warm end of summer breeze. He stopped in the street. The crumpled up letter still sat there. It was looking quite artistic in the flickering light coming from the street lamp. He bent down and picked it up. His hands went over it, smoothing it down a little bit, then his eyes went over it also, reading it once again. He glanced dreamily up to the sky. Coincidentally, at the moment he glanced at the sky, as if to apologize for bad behavior before, a shooting star shot across the sky. It seemed the sky had accepted his apology.  
"Hmm..shooting stars, a good turn in my life for once, Hermione's not perpetually looking at the bright side.I wonder if somehow we've stepped into one of the parallel universes," he said to himself wistfully. "Well, here's hoping Voldemort decided not to follow me in here."  
  
So that's it, Harry is in love and that darn parallel universe is acting up again (Lol, Elvett) ^^ So anyways, if you review you can be my best friend (Next to, of course, the lap tops in science class and Chelsea, not Chelsea O'Neil you weirdo...) And if you don't want to be my friend, well then you get a nice big chocolate chip cookie for reviewing! Feel free to tell me about any parts you think could be improved but also please tell me WHY not just that you didn't like it. Oh and no matter how awesome the Goo Goo Dolls are and how awesome the song Iris is, I won't take credit for it. I just happened to be listening to it while writing this and thought it described it well enough to put in. For you who have never heard the song, download it, buy the cd, request it on the radio, whatever you want, cause its definitely very cool. So anyways, last though, REVIEW! 


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